Ramanand Sagar's 'Ramayan' returns to TV again amid 'Adipurush' row

MUMBAI: Amid the 'Adipurush' controversy, the iconic teleserial 'Ramayana' from the late 1980s is set to be telecasted again. Taking to Instagram, channel Shemaroo Tv shared the promo of the super hit show 'Ramayan' and captioned it in Hindi, "We are bringing to you all dear viewers the world-famous mythological serial "Ramayan"... Watch "Ramayan" from 3rd July at 7:30 PM only on your favourite channel #ShemarooTV."

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The mythological show will begin airing from July 3 at 7:30 pm on the Shemaroo Tv channel. Ramanand Sagar directed 'Ramayana' was a popular serial in the late 1980s.

The series featured Arun Govil as Ram, Deepika Chikhalia as Sita and Sunil Lahri as Lakshman. Late Dara Singh portrayed Hanuman and Arvind Trivedi was featured as Ravana. The show was originally telecast from January 25, 1987 to July 31, 1988 and received massive responses from the audience. The announcement of the show returning to the TV screens came at a time when it was being compared with Om Raut's recently released Pan-India film 'Adipurush' on social media.

Soon after the makers unveiled the promo of 'Ramayan' fans flooded the comment section with red heart emoticons. "Jai SiyaRam," a fan commented. Another fan wrote, "Jai Shree Ram."

Earlier in 2020, during the covid-lockdown, Doordarshan decided to re-telecast the mythological series on public demand, Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Prakash Javadekar informed. Talking about 'Adipurush', the film, which is a dramatic retelling of Ramayana, faced backlash on social media for its poor VFX and controversial dialogues including 'marega bete', 'bua ka bagicha hain kya' and 'jalegi tere baap ki'.

From critics to reviewers, several people from across the country have expressed disappointment over the film's certain dialogues. In the wake of such flak, the makers of 'Adipurush' revamped the dialogues. Talking exclusively to ANI, Ramanand Sagar's son Prem Sagar earlier said, "Manoj Muntashir is well-informed about Hinduism. I don't understand how he even conceived such dialogues in the film. It might be a misjudgement that the younger generation would like it. But you can't do this with the audience.

Don't say it is based on Valmiki Ramayan, give it any other name. Make it a 'fantasy' film. But if you're making Ramayan then you cannot hurt the sentiments. People watch this with devotion." "I have seen the clips of the movie and had a lot of interaction with people like Sunil Lehri (who played Laxman in Ramanand Sagar's 'Ramayan'), so some problem is there. I don't even want to watch the film. Ravan was very knowledgeable and you are blackening the golden Lanka (sone ki Lanka), and his look with 5 heads up and 5 heads down," he added.

Actor Sunil Lahri, who played Laxman in Ramanand Sagar's 'Ramayan', earlier told ANI, "I have seen the film. I am very disappointed after watching the film... The thought that crossed my mind was, why did I go to see the film? I didn't like the picture at all. There are only two things that I can say I liked about the film -- background music and the cinematography. Barring these two aspects, the film left me sorely disappointed." "After seeing the picture, I had no clue how to react to it.

Setting myself aside, since I played a character in Ramayana, even the people who sat around me at the theatre were not happy watching the movie. Two women sat saying to each other, 'Let's get up and take a walk. What nonsense are we watching?' To that, the other woman said, 'Let's see the visual effects if nothing else'.

A man sitting next to me told his friend, 'What are they showing in the name of Ramayana?'" he added. Directed by Om Raut, 'Adipurush' stars Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon as Goddess Sita, Sunny Singh as Laxman and Saif Ali Khan as Ravan.